Mars | featured news

Landing people on Mars: 5 obstacles

Getting a six-wheeled car-size rover safely onto the surface of the red planet? Daunting, sure. But NASA did it with Curiosity. Sending humans on a mission to Mars? That requires overcoming even more outlandish obstacles.

 

Life on Mars time for JPL scientist and his family

David's time on Earth had come to a temporary end — and he was taking his family with him. As soon as the rover Curiosity dropped onto the Martian surface on Aug. 5, David and hundreds of his fellow scientists and engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory switched from Earth time to Mars time.

 

Will.i.am, With Assistance From Curiostiy, Will Premiere His New Hit Song From The Surface Of Mars Today

Curiosity Rover

NASA's Curiosity rover is making global headlines as it travels uncharted territory on Mars, and it will venture into new realms back on Earth this week when it premieres a new will.i.am song. The Black Eyed Peas rapper's tune "Reach For The Stars" will be broadcast live from the surface of Mars, via Curiosity, at 1 p.m. PST (4 p.m. EDT/2000 GMT) on Tuesday to a news conference at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the organization said in a statement on Monday.

 

Stunning New Pic of Mars

Mars Crater

The mission team also unveiled today a stunning 360-degree panorama of Curiosity's Gale Crater landing site, showing in crisp detail some of the landforms scientists want the six-wheeled robot to explore.

 

Rover takes its first spin on Mars

Mars Rover Image

NASA's Curiosity rover on Wednesday left its first tracks on Mars, successfully completing a short test drive that showed it was ready to roll on longer treks for science investigations over the next two years.

 

Curiosity shoots Martian rock with laser

NASA's Curiosity rover has zapped its first Martian rock, aiming its laser for the sake of science. During the target practice on Sunday, Curiosity fired 30 pulses at a nearby rock over a 10-second window, burning a small hole.

 

Mars Rover 'Speaks' on Landing

Curiosity phoned home throughout its daring and unprecedented landing sequence that night, giving its nervous handlers step-by-step status and health updates. The European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter recorded some of this chatter, and now we can hear what Curiosity had to say.

 

India To Launch Mars Mission: PM

India plans to launch a space probe that will orbit Mars, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh confirmed on Wednesday after press reports that the mission was scheduled to begin late next year. The project would mark another step in the country's ambitious space programme, which placed a probe on the moon three years ago and envisages its first manned mission in 2016.

 

After Curiosity Landed on Mars, Was Wondering When A Human Will Walk On It

Mars Landscape

According to this AP article, The year is 2030. Man will walk on Mars if everything goes according to plan, and if the government gives them adequate funding.

NASA plans to send six to eight astronauts. The trip would take six months each way, and they’ll stay there for 18 months. The mission “will give scientists the chance for unique research on everything from looking for other life forms and for the origin of life on Earth to the effects of partial gravity on bone loss.”

 

Uncertainty lingers about future Mars efforts

This week's arrival of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity set the stage for a potentially game-changing quest to learn whether the planet most like Earth ever had a shot at developing life, but follow-up missions exist only on drawing boards.

 

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